The Long Road Home
by saamiiieexbaabee
Summary: Leo Call and Keifen Uley were in love but as time went on they grew apart causing their relationship to fall apart. Now 6 months later Leo is stuck in a rut until he meets the newly divorced Jacob Black. Now Leo is caught up between his past and the present unable to decide what he feels.


****The Long Road Home****

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 **Summary:** Leo Call and Keifen Uley were in love but as time went on they grew apart causing their relationship to fall apart. Now 6 months later Leo is stuck in a rut until he meets the newly divorced Jacob Black. Now Leo is caught up between his past and the present unable to decide what he feels.

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 _Leo Andre Call:_ _22 year old son of Embry Call and the late Bonnie Call_

 _Jacob Ephraim Black:_ _45 years old, recently divorced_

 _Keifen Wolf Uley:_ _23 year old son of Sam and Emily Uley_

 _Nyla Caitlyn Gatsby:_ _22 year old best friend of Leo Call from high school_

 _Phoebe Sue Clearwater:_ _22 year old daughter of Seth and Daisy Clearwater_

 _Talia Marie Littlesea:_ _23 year old daughter of Colin and Joanna Littlesea_

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 ** **Prologe****

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My mom always used to say _'it's not the destination that life arrives you at that matters, its the journey that got you there'_ before she passed away. It was her way of telling me, time and time again, to enjoy the moment and experience all life has to offer before I reached the end of the road. Of course four years ago when I was a high school graduate ready to take on the world, her words were what fueled every decision I made. I wanted to live in the moment, experience everything life had to offer as it came my way..

But now, at 22 years old, I found that as I stood at the edge of my home town staring at the road that led me home, that the journey wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I had moved out of my small little hometown and travelled half way across the country for what? For him? And look where that got me. I was a broken hearted medical school drop out all because of one person and one road I shouldn't of taken.

I guess to truly understand what I am talking about I'd have to take you back to the start and when I mean the start I mean the night before graduation when my journey to heartbreak really began..

You see that was the day I met Keifen Uley.

Now Keifen had been in my class for as long as I could remember, all the way from kindergarten all the way till high school, but it wasn't until the night before graduation I really saw the boy who would become my first love.

As I leaned against my truck I could help but remember that night so clearly. It had been just after midnight and I was sitting at the first beach rehearsing my valedictorian speech. I had wanted it to be perfect so much that I had detached myself from my classmates who were all drinking and dancing around the bonfire. I hadn't noticed him approaching until he dropped down beside me.

"You're Leo right?" He asked, I could smell the faint smell of alcohol on his breath as he spoke. It wasn't so strong to be repulsive but just strong enough to know he had knocked back a few beers before coming to sit next to me.

"Yeah." I replied gingerly. "And your captain of the football team." Keifen chuckled at my comment. I guess he could tell I wasn't exactly comfortable with the situation, especially seeing as it wasn't every day the captain of the football team came and willing spoke to a social outcast.

"My name's Keifen." He smiled.

"I'm aware." I mumbled as I turned back to the crumbled piece of paper in my hands, doing anything to avoid looking at the greek God that was currently sitting next to me. Now Keifen had always been good looking. Ever since we were kids I had had a small crush on the guy but I wasn't to blame. He was in everyones minds, not only mine, quite handsome. It couldn't be helped, his parents were Sam and Emily Uley! Even with Emily's scar, she was still classed as one of the hottest moms in La Push.

"I hear you're giving our graduation speech tomorrow." Keifen said awkwardly. I looked at him and gave him a small smile. "Yeah but sorry I don't do shootouts'."

He smiled.

"I wasn't asking for one but I think its cool you were chosen to do that. You'll do a much better job than anyone else. You've always been good with words." He answered causing me to look at him with a faint look of surprise on my face.

"How do you know I'm good with words?" I asked.

"I pay attention." He replied. "I always listened to your essays back in middle school. I liked them, they were worthy of all those A grades." He smiled at me as he gently nudged me with his shoulder. I laughed awkwardly before responding with a meek 'thank you'. Keifen smiled at me again before jumping to his feet and wiping the sand from his beige coloured shorts.

"I can't wait to hear your speech tomorrow Leo, I'm sure it'll be perfect." And with that he left and I was left in complete and utter awe as I watched the captain of the football team walk away from me. I couldn't help but let my heart race.

After he left I tried to bush off the feeling he had left me with but I couldn't help it. Back then I had no idea we would end up where we did.. I had thought that after we had thrown our graduations caps into the wind and I boarded my plane to New Orleans and I'd never see him again but boy was I mistaken. It wasn't until the middle of my first year that we met again at a party held at the University of New Orleans, which was only a 20 minute drive from Tulane Medical school, where I discovered he had been accepted on a football scholarship and the rest is history. The next three years kind of flew by and before we knew it was six months away from Keifen's graduation.

Thats when it all changed. That's when our perfect little bubble that we had placed ourselves in for those past three years finally burst and my life came crumbling down.

I felt my heart sink at the memory as I continued to stare down the road that led me home. I could still remember watching his back walk out the door for the last time. I had begged him to stay and for a moment I believed there was a chance he would.

I was _naive_. And stupid. _So stupid._

It had been six months since then and I only just begun to pick up the pieces of my shattered life. After going into a downward spiral in the first three months since the break up I decided it was best if I came home. And I did. I dropped out of medical school and jumped on the first plane home. My dad had been so disappointed. He had thought I was throwing my life away but at the same time he understood, he hadn't been able to stay mad at me for long. He knew how it felt to be left heartbroken and how it can shatter your world.

I had been home for three months now and it still felt like my world was incredibly messed up. I hadn't gone back to school though I knew I could of easily gotten a place at a local collage but it didn't feel right. My heart wasn't in it. My heart had abandoned me just like Keifen had done.

So instead of going back to school and continuing my studies, I got a job. Nothing special or fancy seeing as I only had my high school diploma but it was enough to help my dad out with the bills and put food on the table. I had gotten a job at a small restaurant in Forks where I worked five days of the week. I couldn't say it was were I excepted to be at twenty-two years old but it was all I could manage. Everything else felt wrong to do alone.

I had just finished a shift at the restaurant and decided I didn't want to go home yet which is how I ended up at the town line, staring at the road that led me home. I sighed as I remembered an old saying _'home is where the heart is'.._

I couldn't help but feel my heart sink at the thought of the words because even though I was home I didn't feel like this was or where I was meant to be. I wasn't meant to be living a life where my heart everyday. My dad had told me time heals all wounds but I didn't know how much more time my poor heart needed. It was draining.. Both mentally and emotionally.

I just wanted to feel whole again but my heart was torn. It was broken. Pieces of it shattered across the US. Some of the pieces had stayed with me and where the ones that kept me going but the ones I had lost where still in New Orleans, with the man who had stolen my heart in the first place and in all honesty, I didn't know how to get them back.

I took a deep breathe as the wind began to blow against my face and cause my curly unruly hair to move with it. I was dressed in my waiter's uniform which only consisted of black trousers, a white shirt and a black tie, which had been loosened as soon as I left. I hadn't put on a jacket yet because even though it was a typically cold summer's evening in Forks, I just didn't feel cold.

 _'It must be because my heart has frozen over'_ I joked to myself before pushing my body off the side of my truck and opening the door. Once inside I rested my hands on the wheel and took another long look at the road ahead of me. It was long, I knew that, but sooner or later I would be home..

Completely and totally home..

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 **Chapter One**

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"Hey sleepy head, wake up"

I stirred as I felt someone jab my tied back hair. I grumbled as I tried to swat the person's annoying hand away from my head. I didn't want to wake up, not today, not any day.

"Leo, come on you can't waste a perfectly good day off in bed." The voice said as they continued to poke my head with their long nails. "Ouch!" I finally snapped as I opened my eyes and rolled onto my back. I glared at the person who had awoken me from my sleep with consistence poking. "I hate you." I growled.

"No you don't." My best and only friend smiled at me. Her name was Nyla Gatsby and she was by far the most annoying person on the planet at that very moment. We had known each other since we were five years old and had been inseparable ever since, even though we both went to different colleges out of state and unlike me, Nyla had actually graduated earlier that summer. Nyla had been by my side through everything and even as we got older that hadn't changed. She was the first person to know I was back in town and the rest was history. Even with my current status it felt like no time had past since I had seen her and we were still two social outcasts in high school leaning on each other for support and guidance.

"I do." I replied as I rolled back onto my pillow and pressed my face into the material. "I really do."

Nyla rolled her blue eyes and twirled a piece of her shoulder length ginger hair around her finger. "Yeah yeah yeah, like I haven't heard that before missy." I felt her hands hit the mattress before she continued. "Leo we're not having another 'avoid the world' day."

"Why not?" I grumbled.

"Because we've had like a million ever since I came back from Ohio State." I watched as she titled her head slightly and gave me that 'you know it's true' look. I sighed and grabbed my pillow from under me and placed it over my head. "Today is not a good day Ny."

I huffed as I felt the soft material of my pillow being ripped out of my hands. "You always believe today isn't a good day. Today hasn't even started yet."

"That's because every day I wake up feeling like my world is a complete pool of darkness and disgust." I answered as I pulled myself up into sitting position and folded my arms over my chest.

"Oh please, you sound like my grandmother and she has it much worse than you. She's 90 years old and in a wheel chair." Nyla replied before rolling her eyes and flicking her hair over her shoulder. "You have to stop feeling sorry for yourself Le. Keifen isn't coming back and you know deep down you deserve so much better."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah because there are so many available guys on the reservation."

"Well.." Nyla stopped to think for a moment while I swung my legs off my bed and walked towards my dresser. It had become clear to me that my hopes of a day hiding from the world weren't going to become a reality while Nyla had a key to my back door. "There's Ethan Clearwater and Ben Black? Their both cute."

"They are also Keifen's best friends and last I heard, both straight as a nail."

"I don't know." Nyla turned to face me as I pulled out a pair of light blue jeans and a black t-shirt. "Ethan has always had good taste."

I scoffed. "Oh yeah, call the news room. Teen boy must be gay because he has good taste. Not completely stereotypical."

"You know what I mean Leo." Nyla shouted at me as I walked into my on joining bathroom. "He's always had a thing for Bethany Fisherman. He may as well be gay if he likes girls that butch."

I couldn't help but laugh at that one. That was the good thing about Nyla and I being friends. She was basically everything I was not and I was everything she was not. I was emotional and self-conscious while she was out-spoken, brave and independent. She didn't need anyone or anything and sometimes I didn't think she needed me. I was like her conscious. I kept her in line and in a way she was the devil on my shoulder. She showed me how to live a little and stray from my box that I often kept myself in.. We complimented each other.

When we were little our parents joked about us having a typical high school sweet-heart relationship but then I found out I was into guys and it all went downhill from there. _'I bet if I had spent the last three years with her I wouldn't be here right now.'_ I thought bitterly to myself before proceeding to strip down and get into the shower.

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Nyla smiled at me when I finally left the bathroom. "Finally." She said before jumping off my bed. "I thought I was going to have to come in there and drag you out."

I chuckled slightly. "Like you'd do that."

Nyla shrugged and huffed as I continued to towel dry my hair. "You're right. I wouldn't want to be scared for life."

"Shut up." I said jokingly. I watched as Nyla stuck her tongue out of me in the mirror. I grinned back at her while tying my curls in a bun on the top of my head. "Okay world, I'm ready." I mumbled to myself but deep down I knew I wasn't. I wanted to stay in bed and wallow in self-pity but like I said before, I knew Nyla wasn't going to let me.

"And the world is ready for you." Nyla said gently as she took my hand and began to lead me downstairs. "Everyday is a new day for amazing things to happen."

"Wise words." I heard my father say from where he was standing in the kitchen. "Hi daddy." I mumbled.

"Nyla I'm surprised." He said as he placed his cup of coffee on the kitchen counter. "I thought you'd never get him out of bed." Nyla smiled and flicked her hair for the millionth time that morning. "What can I say Mr Call. I have a gift."

My dad chuckled and smiled at me. "I'm proud of you son. You can't keep yourself locked in that room on your days off. The real world misses you."

"The real world sees me five days a week dad."

"No the restaurant sees you five days a week." He responded. "You need a social life kid."

"I have a social life." I replied in a 'as a matter of fact' tone to which my dad just rolled his eyes and took a sip of coffee. "Yeah right. I have a more active social life and I am old son."

"You're not that old Mr Call. You're only forty-five years old." Nyla pipped up.

"Yeah but I've lived a lot. Sometimes it feels like I've lived many more years." My dad sighed before looking at me. I looked back at him and all I could see was that look. That look he got whenever he thought about mom.. Even after all these years I could tell he still missed her.

My parents had met just after my dad graduated high school. He was working at the Uley garage when my mom, Bonnie, walked in with her father after their car broke down a few blocks from the garage. It was love at first sight and I don't mean that 'imprint' stuff. No my mom and dad fell in love the right way. Without destiny throwing them together or fate joining them together for the rest of their lives like what happened to many of my classmates parents.

In fact my dad was one of the only members of the Pack not to imprint. I had remember asking my mom if she worried out it happening but she always joked saying that if it was going to happen, it would of happened a long time ago.

But yeah, they met at the garage and dated for four years before they got married and a year later they had me. We had a pretty sweet life together. It was just us three and we never wanted anything more. I had two loving, adoring parents and that was enough. I never wanted another sibling because I had them all to myself not to mention a kick-ass best friend. My childhood was one to be envied but it all came crashing down when my mom got sick. I was fourteen years old when she passed away from frontotemporal dementia.. It devastated us. Especially my dad. He not only lost his wife but he also lost his best friend. It had been 8 years and I could tell even though he looked like he was getting on with life and everything was okay but I knew when no one was looking he still missed her and I wouldn't lie and say I didn't miss her too. She probably would of known exactly what to do when her twenty-two year old son came home after dropping out of medical school with a broken heart.

I watched as my dad shrugged the look off his face and smiled. "So what are you and missy here going to do today?"

I shrugged and rolled my head towards Nyla. "Ask her."

Nyla grinned and clapped her hands together. "We're going to the beach."

"Seriously?" I moaned before dramatically placing my head on my father's shoulder. "Please don't make her take me." My dad laughed at my action. "Come on Leo, you'll have fun."

"No I won't." I whined. "Too many people."

Nyla huffed as she reached out and grabbed my hand. "Come on, these people are your friends and they need to see you alive and kicking." I decided against protesting at this point as I knew it was useless. Nyla was on a mission, a mission to get me to integrate back into society and nothing and no one was going to get in her way. Especially not my constant whining.

"Bye Mr Call." She shouted and waved. Dad just shook his head and laughed to himself as he waved us off. I turned back to him and shot him a look that basically screamed 'save me' but he just shrugged and went back to nursing his coffee.

'Thanks for the help father' I growled mentally. "Okay okay," I groaned once we reached my beat up truck. It had been my dad when he was my age and he kept it for me as a 16th birthday present. Naturally most people thought it was a disgusting heap of junk but it had sentimental value to me. "You've got me out the house, you can quit dragging me around."

"I wouldn't have to drag you around if I didn't think you were going to run straight back home." Nyla replied, her eyebrow slightly raised. She had a point. If I didn't think she was going to slide tackle me to the ground I would of made a run for it.

"Whatever." I responded. "Are we walking or taking the beast?"

Nyla looked up at the sky and hummed to herself. "I say we walk. You need all the fresh air and sunlight you can get." She joked.

"I naturally tanned."

"Yeah but that doesn't mean you aren't starting to look transparent." She laughed. I stared at her blankly, I wasn't amused. Clearly. "Oh come on, lighten up." She said as she punched my shoulder lightly. "Stop being such a sour wolf."

"I'm not a sour wolf." I huffed.

"You are." Nyla said as she hooked her arm with mine and forced me to walk with her towards the beach. "But we both know it won't last forever." I mentally cringed as I heard the sympathy filled her voice. I hated getting from pity people, I pitted myself enough.

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A little while later I found myself sitting on a beach towel with my shirt off and Nyla in her swimsuit lying next to me, watching the rest of the reservation kids who were either splashing each other in the sea, playing a game of football or doing exactly the same as us. Nyla gave a small smile and wave at whoever walked passed us and said hello. She had always been the more popular out of the both of us though it wasn't hard. I didn't mind being ignored, still didn't even now. I had learnt the hard way I was better off alone.

"Look its Ethan and Bethany." Nyla nudged me gently and snickered. I gave her a tiny smirk as I looked over to where the guys where playing the game of football. Sure enough Ethan Clearwater stood with his now 'girlfriend' Bethany Fisherman who Nyla had earlier joked about for being too manly. I couldn't help but agree though I believe it was due to the fact Bethany had inherited quite large shoulders and her height didn't help. It was a good thing most reservation men got a growth spurt otherwise Bethany would of towered over poor Ethan and that wouldn't of made the situation any better.

"I still can't believe their officially together." Nyla said in disbelief. "I was so sure he was gay."

I rolled my eyes at her before looking back at the group of sweaty muscular men playing football a few feet away from where Ethan and Bethany were standing. I scanned the ocean of raven black hair and noted down every old classmate. I wasn't surprised to return home and find out most of them had stuck around the reservation instead of jetting off to out of state colleges like I had. I learnt every early on the the families here were set in stone. Once they marked there name and built there family, there was slim chances of them ever leaving except of course in death.

"Ooh Leo," I was pulled out of my thoughts at the sound of Nyla's voice. I quickly turned to her and watched as she sat up and stared down the beach. "Look at that piece of sexiness walking this way."

"Where?" I asked while I scanned the beach for this 'piece of sexiness' Nyla spoke of.

"Right there," Nyla pointed. "Talking to Benjamin."

I continued to scan for Benjamin's head of raven black curls in the crowd of other raven haired adult males. "I can't see them." I sighed. "Hey!" I exclaimed as Nyla grabbed my face and pulled it towards the direction she had been looking in. "Right there" she pointed again, "right next to the bonfire pit."

I stared for a moment before I finally saw two males standing a bit of a way away from us. One had there back to us and I assumed it was Benjamin just because the guy facing us was way too good looking to be real. I felt my mouth open a little as I continued to stare. He was a greek God. He stood at around 6ft 3 with the body of a greek God like I said previously. He was pure muscle with shape features. He had straight raven black hair which he had tied back in a pony tail and almost black eyes. He had a little bit of facial hair and a smile that could light up a dark room.

"Leo, stop, you're drooling." Nyla joked.

"Who is he?" I gasped as I continued to watch the mystery God-like man from afar.

"Don't know." Nyla replied. "But he is hot."

"Thank you captain obvious." I replied sarcastically earning myself a glare off Nyla. I smiled at her before turning my attention back to the man at the other end of the beach. _'God he's gorgeous'_ I thought to myself and I smiled. I hadn't thought of anyone else like that in such a long time. It almost felt foreign to think of other people, other than Keifen, like that.

"I feel like we're in high school again" Nyla chuckled. "Hanging out in the gym, making goggly eyes at the basketball jocks."

I laughed with her as I leaned back and turned my attention to the horizon again, unaware that I had caught the attention of a certain Greek God from afar.


End file.
